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The allure of the imposing Apple iPhone is very strong. It's built like a sports car and performs like one too. Everything is streamlined, cohesive, and works together to give you a smartphone experience that is very simple and pleasing. The very nature of Apple being the ultimate pick up and play device is at work. I feel like I could hand an iPhone to a toddler and within minutes they would have it figured out. Well this is all fine and dandy, I, being a now-former iPhone user, eventually grew tired of the straight and narrow path presented by Apple. It was time for me to expand my horizons. It has been almost two months now since I got my Nexus 5. While there are some things I do miss, there is a lot to love about Android. Here are five reasons I now prefer Android to IOS.

My red Nexus 5, my first Android phone

1. Choice

iTunes is a standard in music. But what if you don't like iTunes, or think it could be improved? Tough luck. With Android you have a choice. If you aren't happy with the standard music player you can go out and find one you do like. Heck you can even make one if you feel compelled!

2. Phones, Phones, and more Phones

I never realized how small an iPhone was until I picked up my Nexus 5. The full HD 5 inch screen makes watching movies and videos far more feasible. It has also opened my eyes to gaming as my big hands often cluttered the screen of my iPhone. All of this is made possible by the fact I had a choice with Android. I probably could have found a smaller screen phone, or heck even a larger one, but with iPhone you have one choice, iPhone.

3. Better Choice In Accessories

How many times have you dug around for an iPhone cord to realize you didn't have the right one or it was magically incompatible for some reason? I said too many times. With Android it is simple. Is it Micro USB? Well, it'll work. This means I can use a huge variety of chargers for both the home and car. Same goes for cases and wireless chargers. We didn't see the first great flip cover for the iPhone until this year. Samsung, LG, and others have been making unique covers and cases for years. Compatibility and choice, I'll take that.

4. Price

This is self-explanatory. I got my Nexus 5 shipped to my house off-contract for less than $450. I know, $450 aint cheap. But do you want an Apple iPhone 5S off-contract? You are looking at $649. Add in Apple Care and you are close to $800. Yikes.

5. Apple IS Just one company

While they are a visionary company, Apple is still just one company. When you have the minds of Samsung, Sony, LG, and Google pounding out phones for Android you see more innovation because you have more minds working on making phones as good as they can be. When that happens, when competition happens, consumers win.

Better late than never for Google as they finally unveiled their new update for the Android Operating System, Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. While it is no Key Lime Pie, the next big update coming to Android soon, this stepping stone does repair some of the qualms that users may have had with prior Android versions. Let's take a look at some of the new features of Google's new operating system and what you should expect on your Samsung, Sony, or Nexus phone.

Android 4.3 features Multi-User Restricted Profiles. What this does is also a person to control which apps are used by certain users of the device. While less prudent on a phone, this app would be extremely useful at the tablet level as more tablets are considered shared devices amongst family and friends. This is a boost from the original system which allowed for the creation of profiles but did not allow for the creation of restrictions on said profiles. This feature also marks a step up on IOS machines, as devices like the iPad and iPad Mini have yet to develop a system that enables the creation of users.

In what in considered a big step for Android gamers, the new operating system will feature Open GL ES 3.0. What is that you ask? It essentially is a software upgrade that allows programs to run more efficiently, and frankly, just plain better. This will improve gaming on every level on Android devices which is sure to please the both old and new Android gamers alike.

Ultimately, most of the improvements to Android's flagship operating system would best be described as under the hood. While there are no new sexy features to discuss, the jump to 4.3 will makes things run easier for gamers, and introduce some profile management tools. While Jelly Bean will still satisfy an Android users sweet tooth, the table is now set for Key Lime Pie.

Google's CEO has been fuelling rumors of a Motorola-made shatter-proof Google X phone

According to some recent rumors, Google and Motorola may just be working on a phone that that can go without the usual protective cases and accessories.

Mashable reported recently on a rumored Motorola-made Google phone termed the Google X, which has been stirring up speculation since at the Wall Street Journal broached the topic this past fall. Still, there's been little information as to what the new phone's specs might be.

But in a recent interview with WIRED magazine, Google CEO Larry Page gave us a pretty fresh hint – the Google X may be unbreakable:

"There’s a lot of room for innovation in hardware [...] The phones we use now have glass that everyone worries will break if they drop the device. Five or 10 years from now, that will be different."

Needless to say, Page is a reliable source when it comes to what we can expect from a Google-backed phone. And some are positing theories that the Google X may sport a flexible display or may, at the very least, be shatter-proof.

"The benefits of a 'bendy' phone are questionable, but using a flexible display would result in a phone that's much more immune to shattering, unlike the relatively fragile touch screens of today," says Mashable.

If these theories hold any water, Google may have a product on its hands that doesn't even need the shock-absorption of a case. And while that's bound to make users happy, third-party accessories makers probably wouldn't be thrilled.

But all this is moot anyway, since Google hasn't officially confirmed the existence of the Google X, much less its design specs. Until they do, the talk of a case-less, shatter-proof, bendy Google phone will have to remain squarely in the realm of speculation.

Amid the slew of smartphones being released right in time for the holiday shopping season, Google's new LG-made Nexus 4 is winning the popularity contest.

Within hours of going on sale on the U.K.'s Google Play store on Monday, the latest nexus smartphone sold out. Same story in Australia, except that the successor to Google's Nexus 7 Tablet, the Samsung-made nexus 10, was also listed as "out of stock" before the day's end.

Meanwhile, BGR reported that in the U.S., it took only minutes before all available units of both the 8GB and 16GB models of the Nexus 4 sold out on Google Play. And before long, 32GB models of the Nexus 10 were out of stock, with only 10 units of the 16GB model remaining.

To use the old adage, tehy're selling like hotcakes. But it's not hard to see why.

Starting at $299 for the unlocked Nexus 4, the pricing is pretty competitive compared to other smartphones, especially considering its specs: Snapdragon S4 quad-core processor, 4.7-inch True HD IPS screen with a resolution of 1280×768 resolution, and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean to boot.

However, it doesn't have LTE – if it did, people would probably be killing each other for it at that price – but TechCrunch is right in saying that it's essentially "a high-end 3G device for a mid-range price."

Likewise, there's no reason that demand for the Nexus 10 Tablet should cool down anytime soon. Starting at $399.99, it's greatest draw is its super-sized 10.1" 330PPI display, one of the biggest tablet screens out there.

In addition to Android 4.1 (Jellybean), last week’s Google I/O introduced us to a Chrome Browser update, Google Play news and the Project Glass carnival ride. Here’s the lowdown:

Chrome Browser:

The official version of Chrome Browser is now in the Google Play Store. You can download it for free. For those already using mobile Chrome, the new version provides much-needed stability and a few performance enhancements. Tablets got some UI adjustments - a good idea considering this will be the Chrome running with Nexus 7 tablet . There was no word on availability of this update for devices running older OS versions than Android 4.0.

Google Play got quite a bit of Google attention. Here its new angles:

Google Play Books:

Play Books was updated to support embedded streaming video and audio in books. This will have lots of useful applications, particularly in the educational environment. There’s a new UI feature where you can tap the upper-right corner of a page to bookmark it. New settings options allow for auto text-to-speech and the ability to lock downloads to WiFi only. The rest of the updates were improving support for various formats and other stability fixes.

Google Play Movies:

Now you can purchase Google Play Movies in addition to renting them. TV shows are also available in the Google Play Store as well. The more Google can offer in the Store, the better they will be able to compete with Apple. Next we’d like to see Google step up to the subscription plate and give the likes of Hulu, Netflix and Amazon some nice competition.

Google Play Remote Features:

Uninstalling and updating apps you bought from Google Play can now be managed from a web connection. Just like it’s easier to edit your address book online rather than from your phone, apps need the same kind of management tool. So, maybe it’s time to clean out your app junk pile.

Project Glass:

Project Glass is Google’s R&D effort to create an augmented reality head-mounted display (HMD) they call Google Glass. Sergey Brin’s Google Glass presentation was fun. Some guys jumped out of an airplane and another ran down the side of a building. The audience got to see the little adventure play out on the big screen. The perspective was cool, but as a passive observer can’t we can get something very similar from video games and 3D movies? The final HMD won’t be ready for consumers until 2014, but attendees of the Google I/O were given the chance to pre-order a prototype pair of the glasses (to be delivered next year) for $1,500 a headset. Maybe we just don’t see the bigger picture for Google Glass yet…

Google helpfully added badges to its Chrome Web Store so you could tell if an app offers offline functionality, and now Google has made the search even easier with an offline section in the Chrome Web Store.

We are hoping to see mobile apps for both cell phone and tablets from Chrome web store

Go to the "Collections" part of the store, and find the "Offline Apps" section. Lots of the titles will be familiar - Angry Birds, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Offline Google Mail. Those will be alongside selections like Nitro for task management, NYTimes for news and Space Invaders for those needing a nostalgia rush.

Developers aren’t being left out of the improvements. Google announced the availability of the Chrome Web Store in Turkey, Ukraine, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. All developers can use new analytics tools to view their titles’ performance trends over the past 90 days. This one isn’t surprising. Google does know data.

Google unveiled its Google Maps upgrade a week before Apple is expected to announce its own default mapping technology for its iOS. It looks like Google is telling Apple “Bring it on.”

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View this insightful video on Google Maps

Google has a new life planned for its Google Maps service:

Realistic 3D mapping that utilizes “fly-over technology”, allowing users to navigate through a 3D cityscape while detailed buildings remain accurately to scale. This feature will be completed in metro areas first.

The new Tour Guide service available offline for Android devices. If you're in an area without an internet connection, you'll be able to save a map on your Android device and zoom in and out as you navigate.

Google Maps is the default map service in iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S as well as the iPad 2 and iPad 3. The company said that 3D maps will be coming to both Android and iOS devices in the coming weeks. Apple plans to debut its own 3D maps service at its World Wide Developer Conference that begins June 11th.

There’s no doubt that Google organized a big community really fast with its Google+ social network, but a former Engineering Director at Google is denouncing the service as a means to an end: creating a tool to gather as much information as possible on users for the purpose of capturing more dollars from its advertisers. Sounds very similar to Mobile service providers creating locked in long term contracts that siphon more and mo0re money from users.

Spencer Tipping, a programmer who left Google about a month ago, authored a blog post describing the pros and cons of the Google culture. His post delves into the technological environment and the corporate culture at the company. He called Google+ a big corporate culture con game.

As Tipping put it, “I think Google+ is an effort that does not deserve the engineering minds at Google. This is mostly a personal bias. I see Google as solving legitimately difficult technological problems, not doing stupid things like cloning Facebook. Google, in my opinion, lost sight of what was important when they went down this rabbit hole.”

Tipping admitted that he disagreed with what he called Google’s “ubiquitous political emphasis on Google+ that sometimes compromised other engineering efforts.”

Tipping might be carrying some baggage on the subject of Google+, but the pros in his blog post outweighed the cons. He also said he left the company “mostly because I wanted to take the time to pursue stuff closer to my interests.”

After years of eating away at Microsoft’s Internet Explorer market share, Google Chrome took what looks to be a sustainable lead as the most popular Web browser in the world. According to the latest figures from StatCounter, Chrome has a 32.76% of the market versus 31.94% for Internet Explorer and surpasses Internet Explorer in the global numbers for the first time.

More and more cell phone and tablet users are turning the performance rich chrome as their browser of choice on their devices.

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Just a year ago, Internet Explorer was leading the Web browser market share with 43%, followed by Mozilla Firefox with 29%. Chrome came in a distant third with 19%. Twelve months later, IE is down 12% while Chrome gained 13% (due to both IE and Firefox losses). Firefox also lost about 4% of its users and now has just over 25% market share.

"Whether Chrome can take the lead in the browser wars in the long term remains to be seen, however the trend towards Chrome usage at weekends is undeniable. At weekends, when people are free to choose what browser to use, many of them are selecting Chrome in preference to IE," added Aodhan Cullen, commenting on the weekend surges in Chrome usage.

Google jumped its final hurdle in its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility with China approving the deal. The next step may involve layoffs for Motorola Mobility employees in the near future. According to Tech Crunch, layoffs could be on the list of things to do after the deal closes.

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Motorola went through one restructuring after the announcement of the Google acquisition last year. When the announcement went public, Motorola had 19,000 employees. Later that year about 800 employees were laid off. Neither Google nor Motorola have confirmed the possibility of upcoming layoffs.

"I'm excited to announce today that our Motorola Mobility deal has closed," said Larry Page, Google CEO. "Motorola is a great American tech company that has driven the mobile revolution, with a track record of over 80 years of innovation, including the creation of the first cell phone. We all remember Motorola's StarTAC, which at the time seemed tiny and showed the real potential of these devices. As the company who made a big, early bet on Android, Motorola has become an incredibly valuable partner to Google."

While the news of any layoffs under any circumstances is bad news, maybe Google can turn the phone- maker around. Motorola has been in trouble for awhile now. Earlier this month, the company reported a fifth straight quarter of losses including a net loss of $86 million for the first quarter of 2012. In previous consecutive quarters, Motorola reported net losses in the low $80 million area. Motorola hasn’t been able to figure out how to compete with other Android device manufacturers like Samsung and HTC.

Google also announced today that Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha has stepped down and Google executive Dennis Woodside will take over.